Mercurys Launch a Healthy Fleet for the Encinal YC Saturday Series

A very healthy fleet of Mercurys showed up for the penultimate Encinal YC Saturday Series —15 in all! A total of 18 have been out racing across the series. As other classes fade, the Mercury class is going strong!

In addition to our large complement of longtime Mercury sailors, we had two growing elements of the fleet on the water: relative newcomers (Klario Spindler, Mike Kennedy, Ernesto Perez and, crewing for Chris Lanzafame, our brand-new owner Eric Johnson) and next-generation regulars (Ben Bradley and Jeff Lanzafame).

Results-wise it was quite close at the top, with the short courses and fickle wind on the Oakland Estuary scrambling results in nearly every race. But typically, the cream still managed to rise.

Individual race winners include Shaum Sinawi in race one, Chris Davis in race two, Jim Bradley in race three and John Ravizza in races four and five. Sailing John Hansen’s boat and with a remarkably consistent top-of-the fleet performance, skipper Ken Bodily and crew Drew Guay sailed to an after-throwout 10-point victory for the day, just edging out John Ravizza and son Michael, who totaled 12 points after their throwout.

Jim and Kathy Bradley were third, with 16 points total. It is noteworthy, though, that due to the vagaries of the throwout process, Jim and Kathy, who had used up their throwouts due to missing April’s racing entirely, would have won for the day had all five races counted for everyone.

The final race of the series is Saturday, June 6. PRO Aaron Lee has guaranteed that a steady 10-knot northwesterly will blow right down the Estuary for all five races. You wouldn’t want to miss that!

The following weekend is the Hart Nunes Regatta, a two-day, five-race Travel Trophy event hosted by San Francisco Yacht Club. Mark your calendar and let’s get all 18 of our proven, active, local Mercurys over to the other side of the Bay for a special weekend of fun and fellowship.